Marketing your business online is all about showing that you have something to offer your visitors that your competitors do not have. Marketing your small business online means reaching out to your current customers as well as prospective customers and setting yourself apart.Successful small business Internet marketing is all about establishing relationships. Just as customers in your brick and mortar store have a chance to come in and get to know you, online customers need to be given the chance to learn more about what you do and to decide that they want to do business with you.This is where the concept of your small biz online marketing funnel comes in. Your small biz online marketing funnel is a means by which you can – over time – find new customers and increase your small business sales.Your small biz online marketing funnel is not unlike the local small business marketing that you undertook when you first opened your business in its physical location. First you needed to choose a location and to get that location ready. You ordered the supplies you needed. Then you started advertising. On opening day, it’s likely that you had a product giveaway – a keychain, a coffee mug or maybe even a t-shirt – as well as a coupon giveaway, something that would entice your customer to come back.Your small biz online marketing funnel works in much the same way: you choose a domain name and build your website, or have your website built for you. You’ll get everything that you need in order – including a free or low-cost giveaway. And then you will begin marketing your small business online.It is important to remember that your website is your virtual business. All of the Internet ads that you place will bring traffic to your page, so be sure to use the page wisely.Use your homepage to tell prospective customers about your business – share your mission statement, share customer compliments. Use a page of your website to let your current and prospective customers know more about who you are and what you believe in. Focus both on your business and on establishing a relationship with your customer.Drawing prospective customers in to your website brings them into the widest part of your small biz online marketing funnel; allowing them the opportunity to get to know you begins to draw them down into the funnel.However, you do not want them to make it to the second level of the funnel and stay there, just as you do not want customers at your physical location to walk in and walk back out again. This is why you should plan – as part of your small business Internet marketing campaign – to draw them into the next smallest area of your small biz online marketing funnel.You do not need to offer a physical giveaway. Instead, continue to build relationships with your site visitors by offering them something of value. Offer them free articles about products and services that your small business offers. Set up a newsletter that will allow you to communicate valuable information (as well as special offers) to them at specified intervals.Doing so allows you to take an important step towards increasing sales: it allows you to establish a relationship. By consistently providing your subscribers with information or coupons that are valuable to them, they will begin to recognize you and your company as a company that they want to do business with, and they will look forward to hearing from you.You will be able to encourage them to do business with you by promoting low-cost front-end products. Now, rather than a free article that gives your prospective customers a little bit of information, turn them into your new customers by offering low-cost products. Low-cost front-end products such as e-books that provide useful information about important topics within your industry – and further establish your credibility and the customers’ trust – will help to draw those customers down to the smallest level of your small biz online marketing funnel.For instance, let’s say you own and operate a local floral shop. A perfect low-cost front-end information product that you could offer to your customers to draw them further into your sales funnel would be an e-book with planting tips for growing flowers in your local area. Customers who purchase your low-cost e-book will find value in the information, increasing the likelihood that they will purchase additional, higher priced products from you as well.The last level of your small biz online marketing funnel is the place that you want your new customers to be: it’s the stage where your free and low-cost front-end items, along with your newsletters and other marketing, will increase sales of your high-cost, back-end products and services.This is the goal of your small business Internet marketing: to find prospective customers, establish a relationship and increase sales. To recap, your small biz online marketing funnel works like this:o Build and Market Your Website to Draw in Prospective Customerso Engage the Prospective Customero Establish Trust with a Giveawayo Establish a relationship using a newsletter and special offerso Encourage small, low-cost front-end saleso Make the big-ticket sales of your products and servicesThrough this process, and by continuing to market your site to new prospective customers, you will find that the small biz online marketing funnel is a technique that allows you to consistently and reliably get new customers and increase sales for your small business.
Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions
Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:
An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.
If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.
Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.
After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:
Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.
A Case Study
Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.
Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.
Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.
I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.
There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.
According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?
As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.
When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.
While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.
So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:
The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.
Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.
If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.
When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.
And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.
Differences Between a HOME BASED BUSINESS and a WORK AT HOME JOB!
Have you ever compared the differences between a home based business vs a work at home job?
There are some major differences between having a home business and work from home, compared to having a job that allows you to work at home. Your home is the central hub of all the operations involving a home based business, while a work from home job means your daily work is based in your home but is just a part of a outside business. Most work at home jobs involve checking or reporting to an employer, and you are working on as a freelancer or telecommuter status. Some freelancers, however, will have a home based business and they deal with clients instead of an employer. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to both kinds of these businesses.
When you are your own boss, you don’t receive a W-2 at the end of the year, so you’re responsible for taking care of your taxes. You would deal directly with the IRS concerning your sales and income. For people who are working from home, you’ll be receiving a W-2 at year’s end from your employer, who will also send a report to the IRS. When you’ve attained a specific level of sales as a freelance worker, the employer is responsible for reporting that amount.
Needless to say, there are no health care or unemployment insurance benefits, and worker’s compensation is not available to home based businesses. Partner discounts for the purchase of benefits are available from several insurance companies, but when you are the owner of a home based business you pay for them yourself. People who telecommute and work from home might have access to benefits, but if you are a freelancer you must get your own.
The benefits of both kinds of working at home jobs is the freedom in project choice, flexible time schedule, and the added comforts of your own home. Since you are an employee when you work from home there could be some limitations from the employer. The best thing about is being at home it offers you a lot more freedom and flexibility than an office does. However, a of people who own a home business, or home workers, will discover this kind of freedom can be a double-edged sword. In your own environment it can be easy to pick up a book, put on movie, or find some other activity you enjoy. If you add procrastination to the other possible distractions, you will soon find you’re missing deadlines and producing sloppy work. If you want to be your own boss and work a home business, you need to see if you have the self-discipline it requires.
Most of the time the money you make from a home based business results from sales of a products or services. There are some out there, however, that your earnings are based totally on the number of people you can recruit into the business. These kinds of business are referred to as pyramid scams, and your success is directly connected to how many other people you recruit in under you. As each new recruit buys in, you are pushed higher up the payment ladder. In scams like these, your own products sales are usually not very important.
However, there are a lot of home based businesses that you can start on your own and be your own boss. Besides a marketing company, there’s a portrait studio or a gardening center that would let you be your own boss. It doesn’t matter what type of business you choose to open, to be your own boss you have one that keeps all the operations with in your own home.
Be sure and do your homework before deciding which kind of work you want to do – ask a lot of questions and get a feel for the work itself before you make a commitment. Today the really successful home based business owners are people who might have purchased a product and loved it so much they wanted to share it with others. However, those who want to be their own boss, and work from home, are really happy with their business in their home.
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